The Knicks’ title run showed just how valuable a true closer can be, and Carmelo Anthony thinks the Raptors may have just landed one.
Anthony pointed to Jalen Brunson as the kind of late-game weapon that separates good teams from champions, then said Toronto now has that same edge after the Kawhi Leonard trade. The former Knicks star made the case on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast, arguing that Leonard changes the equation for the Raptors in a major way.
“You go get something that the Knicks have over a lot of teams, which is why they won a championship,” Anthony said on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast after praising last season’s Raptors team and its potential. “I have a closer, which was the difference in San Antonio.
They don’t have a closer. We have a closer.
Jalen Brunson is a closer, so no matter what happens throughout the course of the game, I’m never out of the game, cause I’m a closer, and if it’s close, I’mma close it. Toronto got that.”
Anthony didn’t stop there. He called the move dangerous for the rest of the league and said it changes the balance of power.
“The players in the league will tell you this is a scary trade because Kawhi coming and playing the way he’s been playing, this is very scary. And again, this shifts the power dynamic.”
That’s the bet Toronto is making: that Leonard can be the guy who finishes games, and that his health holds up.
Brunson’s postseason was the model. He scored 15 points in the fourth quarter to push the Knicks past the Spurs in Game 5 of their championship win, and his clutch scoring has become part of his identity. He was named Clutch Player of the Year last season and led all players in fourth-quarter points in this year’s playoffs with 9.9 while shooting 56.2% from the field and from the 3-point line and 90.5% on free throws.
Even with Leonard in the fold, the Raptors still have plenty standing in their way in the East. They’ll have to deal with the new-look 76ers with Jaylen Brown in Paul George’s place, the Pacers with Tyrese Haliburton back on the court, the Cavs team that eliminated them from the playoffs, and the JaysonTatum-led Celtics.
There’s more traffic beyond that, too. The Hawks found something with their new core this past season, the Hornets still have a ton of young talent, the Pistons are building around Cade Cunningham, the Heat just got Giannis Antetokounmpo, and the Magic might finally figure out all the talent on their roster.
That leaves six outright playoff spots and a crowded race for the chance to come out of the East. And the Knicks are still the benchmark.
As the defending champions with their core mostly intact, they sit above the pack until somebody proves otherwise. New York already lost Mitchell Robinson, but Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart are all still under contract for next season, and most of them beyond that.
In Other News...
Raptors Reunion With DeMar May Have Been Doomed All Along
The Raptors long-ago pivot to Kawhi Leonard still hangs over any conversation about a DeMar DeRozan reunion, because the idea has always been about more than nostalgia. Toronto has spent years trying to balance star power, lineup fit and the cultural pull that comes with being the citys team, and DeRozans name keeps surfacing whenever the roster looks like it could use another proven scorer. Even the outside chatter has reflected that tension, with some around the league wondering whether the franchises identity, not just its basketball fit, would make a return feel complicated.
Sam Quinn of CBS has argued DeRozan is not the cleanest fit for what Toronto would need now, suggesting the Raptors could instead lean on staggered usage with Scottie Barnes and Leonard to create offense. Drakes presence in the Toronto conversation only adds another layer, since his influence around the team has often been part of the backdrop whenever old Raptors ties come up. For now, the reunion remains more of a debate than a transaction, and the real question is whether the organization ever decides the basketball case is strong enough to override everything else. [Read more 🡒]
Raptors Urged To Reunite Kawhi With A Familiar Franchise Star
The Raptors offseason has already taken a dramatic turn with the move that brought Kawhi Leonard back to Toronto, and the front office now faces the harder part of building a roster around him. One name that has surfaced in that conversation is DeMar DeRozan, whose release by Sacramento has reopened the door to a possible reunion with the franchise that helped define his prime years.
There is appeal in the idea of adding a veteran scorer who could steady second units and take some pressure off the stars, but the fit is not especially clean. Toronto would have to weigh shooting concerns and the overlap between DeRozans game, Leonards usage and Scottie Barnes role as an offense driver when Leonard sits, which makes this a more complicated basketball question than a nostalgic one. [Read more 🡒]
Kyle Lowry Day Just Turned Kawhi Leonard's Return Into Pressure
Kyle Lowrys day in Toronto was supposed to be about celebration, and in a lot of ways it was. The franchise retired No. 7 in his honor, giving the longest-tenured face of the Raptors era a proper hometown salute, and Lowry used the moment to look back on the years that made him a fixture in team history. It was the kind of ceremony that reminded everyone how much of the modern Raptors identity was built around his edge, his leadership and the title chase that changed the organization forever.
But the return of Kawhi Leonard has shifted the conversation from memory to expectation. Lowry made it clear the bar is no longer nostalgia, and the front office has been just as direct about the goal now that Leonard is back in the fold. With the 2026-27 season in view, the message around the team is unmistakable: this is about winning another championship, and anything less would feel like a missed opportunity. [Read more 🡒]